Young people have been present at climate negotiations since the Rio Earth summit in 1992, and their actions have resulted in widespread media coverage and the mobilization of thousands of their peers. It is estimated that 200 young people participated at the UNFCCC Conference of the Parties (COP) at its thirteenth session held in Bali in December 2007, 500 at COP 14 in Poznan in December 2008, and indications are that more than 1,500 youth attended COP 15 in Copenhagen.

Since September 2008, the UNFCCC secretariat has liased with youth organizations around the world in an effort to facilitate participation by young people in the UNFCCC process. A year later, the secretariat granted probationary constituency status to youth, now recognized as the YOUNGO.constituency.

With the financial support of the government of the Netherlands and input from the youth constituency YOUNGO, the UNFCCC secretariat has designed and planned a series of events to support and enhance the COP preparatory activities of the youth, to increase youth participation from developing countries and to support and enhance youth contribution to COP 15. In this context, the secretariat has hosted a series of youth events during COP 15 to facilitate dialogue between youth and other influencial actors in the intergovernmental process - notably negotiators and UN senior officials.